It was a Friday evening in February when Adrian Vasquez , an 18-year-old from the town of Rio Hato , Panama , accepted an invitation from two friends to accompany them on what was proposed as an overnight fishing expedition .

Their plan , according to Vasquez 's mother , Nilsa de la Cruz , `` was to return the following morning . On February 24 , they left from Ensenada Beach in the town of San Carlos aboard a small fishing boat . ''

But the following morning came and went without their return , and the Vasquez family started looking for the 18-year-old and his friends .

Arnaldo Vasquez , the teen 's father and a hotel worker , asked fishermen to search for them along the shore from which they had departed , and his mother prayed at home with relatives and friends . Soon after , the Panamanian navy joined the search , sending ships and airplanes to look for Vasquez , Oropeces Betancourt , 24 , and Fernando Osorio ,16 .

For nearly a month , their fate remained a mystery . But on March 21 , fishermen spotted the boat , the Fifty Cents , adrift north of the Galapagos Islands , nearly 600 miles from where it had launched .

After being alerted by the fishermen , the Ecuadorian navy rescued the lone crew member .

In a statement , Rear Adm. Freddy Garcia Calle said Vasquez showed `` severe signs of dehydration and lack of nutrition . ''

He said the survivor had thrown his friends ' bodies into the ocean `` because they had become badly decomposed . ''

Vasquez returned Tuesday to Panama City on a commercial flight . According to his mother , he had lost 20 pounds . `` After 28 days of anguish , after praying to God that he be found alive ... this is indeed a miracle , '' de la Cruz said .

She said her son told her the fishing trip had started out well . The three caught plenty of fish . But the boat 's engine died without warning and , with no tools and scant navigational experience , there was little the trio could do , de la Cruz told CNN .

Soon , currents had swept their boat out into the Pacific , far from the coast . De la Cruz said they ate raw fish and drank rainwater . She did not detail how the other two died . The Ecuadorian navy has said it is not investigating the deaths and considers the incident a rescue operation .

De la Cruz described an emotional reunion Tuesday at the airport in Panama City , where relatives hugged Vasquez and cried tears of joy . He was taken to his home in Rio Hato , in Panama 's Coclé province , southwest of the capital .

Reached Wednesday by phone , de la Cruz said her son `` has been sleeping a lot . We do n't want to ask him any questions because we know he 's traumatized . He 's surrounded by the family . We 're loving on him and trying to help him feel better . We 're going to take him to a psychologist tomorrow . ''

De la Cruz said her son is `` a very loving and hardworking young man '' who enjoys spending time with his brothers and loves soccer .

She said the family is taking one day at a time and trying to support her son .

`` For us , this is an opportunity to get closer as a family , to be more understanding and loving , '' she said .

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Three friends set out on a fishing trip on February 24 from San Carlos , Panama

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The boat 's engine died ; it was found adrift in the Pacific some 600 miles away

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Adrian Vasquez survived on raw fish and rainwater , his mother says

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His friends died , and he had to dispose of their decomposing bodies , she says